Accidents Do Happen
by Anya2
Summary: The arrival of a new doctor at Community General coincides with a rash of accidents that appear not to be quite so accidental....A possible connection between the two puts Jesse's friendly nature to the test...COMPLETED!!! Thanks for all the reviews!
1. Part One

In Amanda's view, pathology was most certainly the superior branch of medicine. Although, she realised, she could probably be considered a little biased. But what other speciality was so intriguing or so quiet? No back chat from the patients. No rushing around trying not to trip over nurses, equipment and relatives. She didn't crave the adrenaline rush that a trauma brought in nor the buzz of performing major surgery. She liked being secluded away here, getting on with her own thing at a more sedate pace. Investigating, exploring and discovering. She got enough noise and raucous excitement when she went home to her two small children.

At the moment however her peace was being disturbed by the steady tap of Steve's impatient foot, occasionally punctuated by some pacing. She knew he wanted the autopsy results but she wasn't going to rush herself.

He needed her report so he could finish his. And it was quite clear he was going to hover around her until he got it. She couldn't even get rid of him by grossing him out as she did with some of his colleagues. Steve had a more than strong stomach for a little - or in this case, a lot of - blood.

"Want me to tell you how he died?" Amanda asked, finally straightening up from the examination of her latest 'patient'.

Steve, standing a few feet away in his serious, arms-crossed position, raised a rather sarcastic eyebrow, "Thanks, but I think I can take a fairly educated guess. Even my limited medical knowledge stretches that far."

Amanda had to agree that this hadn't exactly been her most challenging case ever. As means of death go, a bullet wound to the frontal lobe was pretty conclusive. Even so, she'd run every test that was appropriate just in case things weren't quite what they seemed. In a way she kind of hoped she'd find something amiss. She liked the feeling she got when she discovered something unexpected - it meant that she'd been instrumental in solving the case.

No such surprises this time though.

"Hmm," she said with a slight smile, placing the last part of her preliminary report into a folder so Steve could take it away, "Definitely an example of when you can judge a book by its cover." She signed the report with a small flourish and handed it to him.

Out of habit, Steve flicked through the pages, ignoring most of the medical jargon and heading straight for the conclusion. He didn't get a chance to read it however before its contents were spoken aloud in a rather too enthusiastic voice.

"Oh, now that is a nasty one. Looks like a .45 at point blank range."

Steve looked up to see a young, dark haired woman peering closely at the bullet wound in rather gross fascination.

"Oooh, big hole."

The stranger appeared to be in her late twenties, her dark hair lay a few inches below her shoulders in stylishly messy waves. Steve summed her up as 'five foot four, medium build, no distinguishing features' before he wondered to himself why he always described people the same way he did suspects.

"Excuse me," Amanda said in sharp indignation, "But what the hell do you think you're-"

Fortunately for the newcomer, Amanda's forthcoming angry rant - borne from a protectiveness of her work area - was interrupted by Mark's timely entrance. "Here you go," he said, handing a lab coat to the dark haired woman, "And guard it like gold dust. Those things tend to vanish around here."

She thanked him with a smile and tugged it on.

"Dad?" Steve asked, noticing Amanda still silently simmering, "Are you gonna introduce us?"

"Ah, yes of course," Mark said, realising that he had neglected to do so. He turned to the woman, "This is my son Steve - he's a homicide detective, and Dr Amanda Bentley, our chief pathologist." He looked up at the other two, "This Dr Eliza Harvey. She's the new ER attending."

Steve tucked the folder under his arm and shook her hand with a 'Hi', and Amanda did the same after removing her other glove.

"Eliza?" Amanda asked.

The woman smiled, "Call me, Ellie."

She had dark green eyes, Steve realised and she was good looking. Not a pretty, girlie way. It was more of an aggressive, dark beauty. She had what the kids at the gym would call 'that rock chic vibe'.

"Nice to meet you," Amanda said with a smile, before giving Mark a sly look, "Maybe I won't get high-jacked to the ER so much now."

Mark smiled in return, "It's only because we like you."

"Hey," said a rather harried and irritable voice, "Am I the only one actually working here at the moment?"

The four of them turned to see Jesse Travis standing in the doorway looking a little worse for wear. Dark circles under his eyes and his sandy blonde hair all over the place. He'd been working since nine o'clock the previous night and apparently it had been a busy one.

"No," Ellie said, immediately, "Hi. Eliza Harvey, new attending. Tell me what to do."

"Oh," Jesse said, his abrupt attitude suddenly changing, "Well, hi. Jesse Travis. Why don't we....?" He nodded towards the door and Ellie followed him out.

Steve saw his dad's satisfied grin and smiled too. What better way to keep Jesse in line than a pretty doctor?

---

Steve pulled the car to the stop on level five of the car park. Yanking the handbrake firmly up he glanced across at the young detective sitting next to him. To say he was green was an understatement. He was certainly the youngest rookie Steve had ever worked with, but that wasn't what made him so lacking. Captain Newman had explained that while Adam McKenzie had graduated from his class with top honours academically, his field work had always let him down. Newman believed that the putting McKenzie with someone of Steve's experience for a short time, would help boast his confidence.

Steve certainly hoped so and quickly because the guy was starting to bug him. Sure, he was nice enough, he was just a little....well, pathetic. Didn't have much of a clue about field work and was lacking a severe amount of backbone.

He'd brought him here so that the kid could watch the autopsy Amanda was performing on a guy who'd died in a car accident the previous night. Not strictly a homicide case, but he had gone off the road seemingly on his own in a well lit area on a fine night. It wasn't exactly an accident black spot. According the EMTs they hadn't smelt any trace of alcohol on him either, but the pathology report would have to confirm that. Certainly a case worth looking into and hopeful a nice gently start for McKenzie.

"You ready to go?" he asked the young detective.

McKenzie nodded, but with some trepidation.

Steve raised his eyebrows, "You gonna be okay in there?"

Swallowing what looked like a mountain sized lump in his throat, McKenzie nodded again a little more assuredly this time.

Steve gave him a moment before getting out of the car and locking the doors, silently praying to whoever dished these things out for a lot of patience and understanding. He'd been a rookie once too, hadn't he? Although he was sure he hadn't been quite so 'new'.

Arriving in the ER, he saw his dad, Jesse and Dr Harvey looking over some notes at the nurses' station. He went over and briefly introduced them to Detective McKenzie who was polite if a little shy. Jesse's typically enthusiastic greeting and handshake made him get that rabbit-in-the-headlights look. Fortunately a familiar banging of the doors interrupted them and Jesse and Dr Harvey simultaneously broke away to meet the incoming EMTs.

"What have you got?" Jesse asked, moving along side them as they headed straight for the trauma rooms.

"Forty-seven year old male, deep lacerations to the left arm at the elbow. Looks like it was done with a bread knife," the EMT replied with trademark efficiency, "Heavy arterial bleed. BP is 70 palp. Pulse 140 and thready."

"Trauma one's free," Ellie said, ignoring Jesse's ever so slight glare.

"Ok," Jesse said, taking charge again as one of the nurses joined them, "I need a CBC and chem 7. Let's cross and match. We need five units of O negative."

Ellie lifted up the compression pad to take a small cursory peek at the wound and recoiled as blood spurted at her lab coat. She quickly pushed it back down, "Better make that six units. And call the OR. A surgeon needs to take a look at this." She frowned slightly, "No IV?"

The EMT looked a little weary, "Tell me about it. He wouldn't let us."

"I can handle this, you know," Jesse said meaningfully, as they went through the trauma room doors.

Ellie just shrugged amiably, "It's ok. I'm not busy."

Back at the desk, Mark smiled and turned back to his notes. Steve gave him a knowing look.

"Oh, I get it," he said with a nod, "While the attendings get all competitive, you sit back and watch them do all the work."

Mark grinned, "Why do think I hired her?"

Even if that question had needed an answer it would have been interrupted by Amanda's call, beckoning them into the path lab. Leaving his dad behind, Steve walked over there, followed by an obviously still apprehensive McKenzie.

"So," he said, leaning back against one of the desks, trying to ignore the rather wide eyed looks McKenzie was giving the covered corpse, "Any news?"

Amanda handed him the report and, from the rather satisfied look on her face, he guessed it showed something interesting.

"His blood work showed up high doses of diazepam."

"Diazepam?" McKenzie asked, moving a cautious step closer.

Steve frowned, the name sounding familiar. "Don't they use that in sleeping pills?" he asked.

"Can be," Amanda agreed with a nod, "It's a benzodiazeopine drug. They're sedatives. Used for treating insomnia and stress or anxiety. They depress the brain function. Can make you drowsy, dizzy, forgetful..."

"Not the kind of things you should driving while on."

"Absolutely not. Patient's are explicitly warned about avoiding driving and working heavy machinery while taking them."

McKenzie frowned, "Why would he do it then?"

Steve could almost cheer. _That's it, kid. Be a detective._

Amanda shrugged, "I don't know. I asked Mark to chase up the guy's medical records since he has nothing to do."

"Which I dutifully did," Mark said, joining them with perfect timing, "And I resent that. I work very hard."

"Yeah, yeah," Amanda said, disbelievingly, taking the notes from him and looking through. The joking smile she had worn quickly faded away as she scanned the pages.

"What is it?" asked Steve, when his patience wouldn't allow him to wait any longer. So much for praying for more.

Amanda shook her head, "He was never prescribed diazepam and it's only available through prescription."

"Couldn't he have gotten it from somewhere else?" Steve asked, suggesting the first logical conclusion that came to mind, "It's habit-forming, right? He could have been addicted. Buying it illegally."

Mark had that frown on his face, the one he wore when a mystery seemed to be presenting itself. "Yes, that's true. But he was never prescribed any type of benzodiazepine he could have become addicted to in the first place. And besides, I spoke to his family doctor - he was a happy man, with a good job, a wife and two children. Not your typical addict to an antidepressant."

"So what?" Steve said, frowning also, "You're saying he was drugged? Without him knowing?"

"Well, it's certainly a possibility," Mark said, clearly convinced of the matter.

"And if you're right, that makes this a murder." That realisation made him turn to Amanda, remembering he'd forgotten one crucial point, "What exactly did kill him? It wasn't the drug was it?"

Amanda shook her head, returning to the autopsy table, "Crushed skull and massive internal injuries. It's amazing he even made it to the ER."

She whipped back the sheet so that Mark and Steve could take a look for themselves. As soon as they leant in though, there was a thud from behind them. The two Sloan's turned back, Amanda peering over the table to see an unconscious McKenzie lying on the floor. He'd fainted at the sight of the corpse.

"Oh hell," Steve muttered, going to check if he was alright, "Come on, kid. You're embarrassing me here."

"Problem with your new charge?" Mark asked, slightly amused by the whole thing.

Steve was about to answer that when heard by a mixture of voices coming closer. He smiled a satisfied grin. "Sounds like you've got a problem with yours too."

Jesse and Dr Harvey were indeed arguing about something as they entered the room, only stopping when they saw McKenzie's crumpled form, the sight momentarily shocking them into silence.

"Well," Ellie said, blinking in surprise, "He certainly chose the right place for it."

"He's not dead," Steve explained, "He just seems to have a little problem with blood. It's probably just as well then that he went before you two got in here."

Jesse and Ellie simultaneously looked down at themselves. Yes, arterial bleeds did tend to get a little messy, but in the heat of their argument they neglected to get rid of their aprons. They looked like they'd been at work in a slaughter house.

Neither was apologetic however, the sight only serving to remind them why they were there. They immediately began talking to Mark at the same time, speaking animatedly. Not that either of them could be heard clearly over the other. Mark tried to reason with them, telling them to speak one at a time but they weren't listening.

Chaos reigned for a few moments until a piercing whistle split the air. There was immediate silence as they all turned and looked at Amanda. She shrugged. 

"Works with my kids."

Mark smiled gratefully, filing that one for future use. "Now then," he said in a calm voice, turning back to the two wound up doctors, "What's the problem?"

They both opened their mouths to speak but Mark held up his hand, and they paused. "One at a time, please. Dr Harvey - ladies first."  
  
Jesse pouted slightly but held his tongue.

"We've got a forty-seven year old male with partial amputation of the left arm," Ellie began, moving slightly in front of Jesse, "It was self inflicted. He had a stroke six months back, suffered some paralysis down the left side of his body, which has mostly disappeared in time. He says that since then, however, he's felt uncomfortable with his left forearm. He feels like it isn't his."

Mark nodded. "Medical neglect," he confirmed.

He'd seen cases of it before of course, but never one where the patient had actually tried to removing the offending body part.

"What exactly is the problem then?" he asked, clearly at a loss to see how this had caused such conflict.

"The problem," Jesse said irritably, shoving back forward again, his tone clearly stating what he felt about the whole thing, "Is that she wants to help him finish the job!"

Ellie glared hard at him, taking a firm voice, "All I'm saying Dr Travis, is that I believe if the arm is reattached he will do it again, and he could bleed to death next time."

"If he goes up to surgery now," Jesse said, returning her glare with one equally as fierce, "the arm can be saved."

"What?" she said, allowing sarcasm to get the better of her, "So he can have another go at do-it-yourself amateur surgery?"

That was a low blow and Jesse's reaction was plainly written all over his usually friendly face. If she was going to resort to a verbal sparring match... "Oh okay, I'll tell you what," he said, turning sarcastic too, "We'll advertise, shall we? _Hey, don't want that pesky limb. Come here and we'll chop it off for you!_"

"He has a known psychological condition," Ellie said through gritted teeth, "It's not like he needs it anyway. He's right handed. And, if he wants, he can get a prosthetic."

Jesse screwed up his face, "_'It's not like he needs it'_? It's his arm!"

Mark raised his eyebrow at the venomous looks passing between the two, but decided not to comment on it. It was good that they were so passionate about their work. He just hoped that they weren't going to always disagree. His sanity and his blood pressure probably couldn't take it.

"Right," he said, after a moment's thought thankful for the silence, "He's stable, yes?"

They both nodded, awaiting his judgement.

"Okay. Jesse, get a surgical consult down here," he said, quickly continuing before Jesse's smug grin grew out of human proportions, "Ellie, in the meantime, you arrange for a psych consult a.s.a.p. The surgeon will be able to tell you how long the arm's got before it will be no longer viable. If psych can't certify this as a definite case of neglect before then, then he can go into surgery and have it reattached."

"And if they can certify it?" Ellie asked triumphantly, seeing some hope.

"He can go into surgery and have it removed. He can live without it and he'll only be a danger to himself otherwise," Mark reasoned.

Jesse and Ellie looked at one another, a definite sense of competition passing between the two. Neither had quite won yet.

"You'd better call a surgeon then," said Ellie to Jesse, bright and confident. "And you might as well get him to look at it in view of an amputation," she added, before she turned on her heels and promptly left.

The glare returned to Jesse's face, and he looked about to say something but somehow prevented himself, balling his fists as he followed her out.

Mark shook his head wearily and went out after them.

Amanda smiled at Steve, "And you think you've got problems."

Steve rolled his eyes.

"I'll get some smelling salts," Amanda said, indicating McKenzie's still prone form, "I'm sure I've got some ammonia round here somewhere. Should do the trick."

"Might wanna cover that up first," Steve said, pointing to the body.

Amanda nodded, "Good idea."

---

Jesse left bay one, jotting down the relevant information on the clipboard as he returned to the desk. Ellie was there, her hair tied back in a messy clip and a deep frown on her face.

"Paperwork's a killer, huh?" he sympathised, perching on a stool to attend to his own.

"Yeah...", she muttered distracted. In her brief glance up, her eye caught the clock. "Libby?" she asked, addressing the nearby nurse, "Mr Driscole's IV is gonna need changing by now. And he'll need a fresh shot of antibiotics."

Libby smiled, "Yeah, I'm on it. Just as long as you and Dr Travis promise not to start bickering again until I get back."

Ellie looked at her dryly, having gotten used to a number similar comments throughout the day. "I think we've torn each other's throats out enough for one day," she said with a look that said 'okay we deserve it but stop rubbing it in'.

Libby's grin widened as she moved off. Jesse and Ellie's rather stormy start had been a favourite topic of conversation amongst the nurses all day. They had felt quite superior, rolling their eyes in weary patience as they'd watched the two doctors resort to squabbling like children. Even Mark's calm demeanour had grown tired of it eventually, telling them to either get on or he would arrange their shifts so they didn't have to work together. At the time they would have both quite cheerfully agreed to this before realising just exactly how many more night shifts they would have to do in order for that to work. So, they had both bitten their tongues and tolerated one another. Silence it seemed though was a great healer and the hostility between them had dissipated. Not that either had actively apologised. In fact, this was the first time they'd spoken in hours.

For his part, Jesse now regretted being so pig-headed earlier. In hindsight, the guy was probably better off having the arm removed. Especially since psych had confirmed it was a case of neglect. It was the first time Jesse had seen someone actually happy to be told they were having an amputation.

Jesse was tried though. The previous night's on-call had be rough, and Ellie's energetic enthusiasm and unreasonably rubbed him up the wrong way.

He moved over to the stool next to hers.

"Look, about earlier..." he said quietly, out of the ear shot of a couple of nurses who were straining to hear what they were arguing about now, "No hard feelings huh?"

"About what?" said Ellie with a wry half-smile, continuing with her paperwork "Disagreeing with my diagnosis, or making sure I had to do everything because you had all the nurses doing stuff for you, or telling that cute fireman not to ask me out because I'm a total witch, or purposefully tipping coffee down my decent trousers?"

Jesse's smile was an embarrassed one, "I know. I acted like a four year old most of the day. In fact, I know a better behaved four year old..."

"Don't worry about it," Ellie reassured, "I did wind you up something chronic. You were just doing what you thought was right for that guy. So, no. No hard feelings. I'm just sorry I got so..." she frowned, "Well, I wanna say 'passionate' but I think 'argumentative' and 'psychotically obsessive' are closer to the truth."

"Hey," Jesse said with an easy shrug, "You were just arguing your point of view. I would've done the same thing."

"Oh, don't worry, you did," Ellie replied brightly.

"But I didn't have to get quite so worked up about it though," Jesse said, still clearly feeling bad about the way he'd acted, "It'd been another long night shift."

Ellie finally properly looked up pushing her paperwork aside. He did seem like a nice guy. Mark had reassured her that Jesse was friendly, welcoming and helpful. It had been a bit of a shock when he'd snapped at her. That was probably why she'd been so defensive.

"I'm gonna get some coffee," she said "You want one?"

It was obviously a peace offering and he had no qualms about accepting it.

"Sure," he said, as she moved off towards the staff room, "I'll be in in a minute. Just gotta put my signature on a few of these". He indicated a stack of charts sitting on the desk, ready to be handed over to the on-call guy as soon as he arrived.

"Ah," Ellie said with knowing look, "That wonderful end of shift feeling, huh?"

Jesse grinned in agreement as she walked away. It took him just a moment to decide to call her back. "Ellie?"

She turned to him with a questioning look.

"You were right," he said, rather solemnly, "About that guy. It was the best thing to do."

She shrugged, "Yeah, but I'm not gonna gloat. And I want you to remember that when you're right and I'm wrong."

"Okay," said Jesse, deciding that despite a rocky start it looked like they'd be all right after all.

"Hey, look at it this way," Ellie said, grinning before she rounded the corner, "Now, he's 'armless'"

"Oh, ha ha," Jesse said with a look of disgust at the bad joked.

Ellie's smile widened, "And by the way - that gum on the chair that you sat on? That was me."

"Is that an apology?" Jesse asked with a comically raised eyebrow.

"Absolutely not," she said clearly unrepentant. Coffee and the finish of shift on her mind, Ellie moved to go to the staff room when the emergency entrance doors clattered open. She sighed, planting her stethoscope firmly around her neck. She knew she shouldn't have thought about going home. Now she'd jinxed it.

---

Mark walked out of the lift into the ER just in time to see Jesse and Ellie walk passed, dressed in coats and looking tired. He frowned a glance at his watch.

"I didn't think you two would still be here?"

"Neither did we," said Jesse miserably.

"RTA," Ellie explained, "One DOA, a head injury and an abdominal trauma. She's up in surgery now. Prognosis is pretty good. Head injury's not doing so well though."

"What happened?"

"Ask Steve," said Jesse with a half-hearted wave, "He's still hanging around somewhere."

"Okay," Mark said nodding, forgiving them their tiredness. He turned to Ellie again, "First day been okay then? How are you finding it here?"

Ellie nodded, "Not much different from Chicago, actually. Just sunnier. Not that I've seen much of the sun..."

Mark smiled rather paternally. He had a good feeling about her. He had done since he sat in on her interview. He considered himself an excellent judge of character and had known from the moment she'd walked in to greet them that she would fit in perfectly. Although he had almost been given reason to doubt that diagnosis earlier.

"And I won't have to separate the pair of you?" he asked, grinning at their expense.

Jesse and Ellie shared a weary look.

"I think we can behave ourselves," Jesse confirmed, dryly.

With that, they both headed for the door before anything else happened. Mark chuckled, and spotted Steve.

"Busy night?" he asked, crossing over to him.

"Two car smash," Steve explained, "The guy who caused it managed to bail out before his car fell down an embankment, but he was dead before the ambulance got there. McKenzie is covering it so I thought I'd better come out and check how he's doing."

Mark frowned. It all sounded like a nasty accident. "Do you know exactly what happened?"

Steve shrugged, "The only witnesses were the driver and passenger of the other car. Driver's comatosed and passenger's still in surgery. They reckon it'll be a couple of days before we can talk to either."

"Where was it?"

"Not far from where our corpse today met his," Steve said in an offhand manner.

"Oh."

Suddenly Steve's eyes snapped up, "'Oh'?"

"Hmm?" said Mark, distractedly, having turned back to his notes.

Steve scowled slightly, recognising that tone, "You think they're connected, don't you?"

"I didn't say a word," said Mark innocently.

Steve shook his head, "Some people would call you paranoid, you know."

"Perhaps," said Mark, heading back towards the lift, "But how often am I wrong?"

---


	2. Part Two

Author's Note - Well, here's the second part. Thanks for all the reviews so far - glad to know you're enjoying it. And thanks to Siren for pointing out Jesse is an attending. That works out better for me!  
  
Keep reviewing!  


Steve spotted McKenzie chatting to Jesse at the nurses station and headed right over there. He'd spent a rather restless night waiting to talk to one of the victims of the car crash and he desperately needed to just get on with it. What his father had said bothered him. Well, what he'd insinuated anyway. He'd been surprisingly reticent to elaborate on his suspicions, probably realising that it would only frustrate Steve if he started to think something was going on and he couldn't do anything about it.

Unfortunately, Steve had already started to think something was going on, hence the restless night. Which is why he'd asked McKenzie to meet him here first thing.

"Hey," he said to Jesse as a way of a greeting, "Any news on the crash victims?"

Jesse nodded, noticing Steve's businesslike manner and knowing better than to beat around the bush when his friend was in full cop mode, "The guy with the head injury is still in the ICU. Looks like it's going to be some time before he comes round - if at all. The woman came of surgery okay and she's recovering upstairs."

"Good," Steve said bluntly, "I'm gonna go talk to her."

Jesse frowned, "Well, you can try but I don't think she'll be up to talking yet." He noted the determined look on the detective's face with interest, "Something wrong?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out."

Jesse's look was still questioning.

Steve sighed, "It was something dad said," he elaborated, "Got me thinking."

"Oh yeah?" Jesse asked, leaning on the nurses station, giving Steve his full attention. Clearly it had now got him thinking too.

"There's been two accidents in the same spot in two days," Steve explained, "The first one, the driver was drugged - possibly on purpose."

"And you want to know if there's anything suspicious about the second," Jesse filled in, wearing that rather serious frown that never really seemed to suit his face.

"Exactly," Steve confirmed, "Amanda found nothing unusual in the autopsy of the other driver so I need to talk to the guys in the second car."

"Yeah," Jessie said, motioning towards McKenzie, "He was just telling me that you don't know what caused it. And that the first car is such a wreck you probably won't be able to get anything from it. But, of course, if this wasn't an accident then whoever caused it might have made sure the car was destroyed so there was no evidence..."

"See you later, Jess," Steve said bluntly.

As he reached the elevator he stopped for a moment to allow McKenzie - who'd been caught off guard by Steve's sudden exit - to catch up. Waiting for the lift to arrive, he glanced at his temporary partner.

"Just a little word of advice-" he began, before the other detective interrupted him.

"I know," he said, with some remorse, "I shouldn't been discussing the case like that. I just thought since you were friends with the guy and he sometimes helps you out that it'd be okay. And he's a doctor too."

"I'm not talking about telling stuff to the doctors," Steve said with a wry grin, "I'm talking about telling stuff to that particular doctor."

McKenzie frowned in confusion.

"Jesse tends to get a bit...over-excited," Steve said, with a certain amount of fondness, "Let's his imagination run away with him. We have to keep him reigned in a little."

Even as he said it however, he realised what Jesse said was indeed possible. What if the accident had been set up and the evidence purposefully destroyed? What could the car have told them?

His thought process was interrupted as the lift arrived. They got in and Steve punched the button for the appropriate floor, then leant against the back wall as the lit steadily rose, stopping on every floor to allow doctors and nurses on and off.

"With any luck we'll be able to talk to Ms Laferty today," McKenzie commented, out of the earshot of the rest of the occupants of the lift.

Steve shot him a glance, frowning questioningly, "Ms Laferty?"

"The road crash victim."

"Where'd you get her name from? She didn't have any ID on her."

"Oh," McKenzie said, "I thought told you. The forensics guys found a number for a motel in her car. I checked it out, describe the car's occupants to the owner and he recognised them. Said they'd just left that evening."

Steve nodded, impressed, "Good work, McKenzie."

They young detective half smiled, "Thought I'd better redeem myself after what happened yesterday."

The guy was obviously embarrassed about the incident, that was written on his sheepish face. It made Steve feel a little guilty about how he'd felt towards his young charge for most of their first day together.

"Hey, don't worry about it," he reassured, "I did exactly the same thing the first time I saw an autopsy."

McKenzie gave him a knowing look, holding it for a long moment, "No, you didn't."

Steve's face broadened to a smile. The guy smart, he'd have to give him that.

"No - I didn't," he admitted, "But I know guys who did that and worse and they turned out just fine. You'll be okay."

McKenzie's face fell to a more serious demeanour. "I'd better be." Off of Steve's curious look he added, "All the men in my family have been in the emergency services - cops, firemen, EMT's, rescue workers....And they've all been pretty special at it too. My dad's got so many medals they're running out of room to pin them on him."

"A lot to live up to," Steve commented.

"Tell me about it," McKenzie said with a wry laugh, before shrugging, "At least now I've got a chance."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Steve said wondering why the guy was trying to put himself down so much, "I heard did good at the crash site last night. The EMTs were really impressed."

McKenzie looked at him with a smile, pleased and encouraged by the compliment. "Thanks," he said quietly.

The lift pulled to a stop and the two detectives stepped out of the appropriate floor. Stopping off at the nurses' station, to announce their arrival and find the room they wanted. The nurse on duty explained what Jesse had done - she doubted Ms Laferty would be up to talking and even if she was it wouldn't be a good idea to stress her right now. Steve reassured her that they wouldn't push the woman too far and that any little detail they got could be helpful. He finished this with what he considered his most winning and charming smile. It seemed to work too, because she relented and pointed them in the right direction.

Steve was mildly surprised to see Eliza Harvey quietly closing the door of the room as he approached, then walk along the corridor towards them with her nose buried in a file.

"Morning," he greeted, surprised when she was startled and jumped.

"God," she said, taking a calming breath when she saw who it was, "What are you trying to do on me? Sneaking up on people like that is dangerous, you know."

"I wasn't sneaking," Steve said plainly.

"Well make some noise when you walk," she snapped, "Whistle, recite poetry, sing."

Steve shook his head, "You really don't want me to sing. There are sick people here."

The irritation faded off of Ellie's face, and she smiled slightly. "Long night," she said in a way of explanation for her mood, "The on-call guy got sick so I've been back here since 3am covering for him."

"The woes of being the new girl, huh?" Steve sympathised.

"Probably. Just thought I'd take a look in on the crash victim from last night before I headed home for some sleep. Wanted to check out my handy work in helping to put her back together. I guess you're here to see her too."

Steve nodded, "We need to find out what happened."

"Well if you're looking for a chat, you're wasting you're time," Ellie said, shaking her head, "She's out of it and will be for a few hours yet. You should come back then."

"There's no harm in trying," Steve said, making it clear he intended to go in anyway.

Ellie shrugged, "Far be it from me to stand in the way of a waste of police time."

And with that she continued on her way down the corridor.

"Just so you know," Steve said to McKenzie as they carried on their way, "Doctors are all just a little nuts. I think it's because they were students for too long."

McKenzie smiled but his reply was cut off by a continuous monotone noise that seemed to start as soon as Steve opened the door to Mrs Lafety's room.

Steve looked around for a moment, wondering what he had set off before realising what the alarm really meant. And he knew enough to understand what that flat line on the monitor attached to the patient showed.

He quickly rushed to the emergency call button and pressed it. Nothing happened. The light that he knew was meant to come on, didn't.

"Go and get help," he said to McKenzie who was frozen in the doorway.

To the young detective's credit, he immediately left at a run, without question. Steve, meanwhile crossed to Ms Laferty. First aid training thankfully resurfacing, he checked her breathing and pulse in the way he had been taught all those years ago. He found neither and was just preparing to start CPR himself when McKenzie rushed back in, followed by Ellie Harvey.

"She's not breathing and she hasn't got a pulse," Steve said.

Ellie shoved straight past him. She checked the vitals again, Steve believing it was more out of habit than a distrust of his own diagnosis.

"Oh hell," she muttered, immediately reaching up for the emergency button. Of course, when she pressed it nothing happened. She frowned, surprised and hit it a second time. "Why isn't this working?" she asked, angrily, smacking it a few more times for good measure. She turned back to McKenzie who was standing well clear in the door frame. "Go get the nurses," she ordered sharply, "Tell them to bring the crash trolley."

She tossed an face mask and bag to Steve, "I take it you know how to use one of those?" she asked, making it clear that he had better. She pulled the pillows from behind the patient's head and dropping them to the floor.

Steve nodded and joined her at the bedside.  
  
"Why do they make these things so damn high?!" she complained, having to lower the bed to start chest compressions. "This is all my fault," Ellie said after a moment, her words a little distorted through the effort she was having to put in.

Steve frowned deeply, "What makes you say that?"

Ellie shook her head, "Something crappy has a tendency to happen as soon as I think of going home."

Moments later two nurses arrived, one relieving Steve of his duty. He stood back with McKenzie and watched from a distance as Ellie ordered syringes of adrenaline. Steve had seen a number of resuscitations in his career. Enough to get an idea of a patient's chances. And he had a bad feeling about this one.

---

"I just heard," Mark said as he walked up to the group of Steve, Detective McKenzie and Doctor Harvey, all standing to one side of the ward's nurses' station. He stood aside momentarily, allowing the orderly to wheel the covered body past him. "What happened?" he asked as he watched them wheel it towards the lift.

"I have absolutely no idea," Ellie said, raising her arms above her head and stretching her aching and tired back muscles, "Neither does her surgeon or the doctor who saw her this morning. Which is why she's on her way down to the path lab."

Mark glanced at Ellie momentarily, hearing an anger in her words. He recognised it as the kind of frustration every doctor got when they unexpectedly lost a patient. He knew what is was like to feel as if you could had somehow failed them wonder what you did wrong.

"You did all you could," he said reassuringly.

Ellie shook her head, "We couldn't get her out of asystole to even try shocking her. It was like her autonomic nervous system just suddenly shut off. I was in there not five minutes before and she was doing okay. I just don't get it."

Mark frowned, "What were you doing up here?"

"I came to see how she was doing," Ellie said ruefully, "Guess I jinxed that."

"Don't be silly," Mark scolded lightly, before giving her another reassuring smile, "Now, you'd better home or they might start charging you rent here."

"Good point," Ellie said, properly showing the weariness Mark had seen in her, "If you find out anything I'd like to know."  
  
"We'll keep you informed," Steve said.

Ellie nodded in appreciation and headed off to take the lift back downstairs.

"You know, I'd hate for you to say 'I told you so'," Steve said to Mark, "But I think something is going on here. The connection from the alarm to the nurses' station had been severed. This could've been murder."

Mark nodded, heading towards the lift himself, "Then I'd better go and ask Amanda to complete that autopsy a.s.a.p."

"And we," Steve said, addressing McKenzie, "Better make sure that room's cordoned off."

"Oh and Steve?"

He turned at the sound of his father's voice calling him back.

Mark grinned, "I told you so."

Steve gave him a dry look.

---

Jesse slipped into the path lab, making Mark, Amanda, Steve and McKenzie look up.

"Hey," he said, digging his hands into his pockets and joining them, "You find anything?"

The grim looks on their faces told the answer to that question before Amanda brought over the report to show him. Jesse's eyes whizzed down the text, taking in what she had found.

"Morphine?" he asked, with a frown as he reached the conclusion.

Amanda nodded in confirmation, "A massive overdose given intravenously."

"It could have been some kind of error by the nursing staff," McKenzie suggested.

The look on Amanda's face showed she wasn't impressed with that remark and Mark quickly intervened.

"No, she was prescribed codine," he explained, "And besides, morphine has a half life of what? 2 or 3 hours?"

Both Jesse and Amanda nodded in agreement.

"And the tests here show the amount to be massive. It would have been at least twice that injected into her. It couldn't possibly be accidental. Whoever did this meant to kill her," Mark stated firmly.

"Weren't you suspicious about the accident she was involved in?" Jesse asked Mark, "What if the person who caused it came back to finish off the job?"

__

'There's that imagination running away with him again,' Steve thought before again realising that Jesse was most probably right.

"That doesn't really help much though, does it?" Amanda said with a shrug, "Only three people can tell us what happened there last night, two of those are dead and the other is in a coma."

"Well there is someone else," Jesse reasoned.

"Oh?"

"The guy who did it."

"I can't see him volunteering any info though, Jess," Steve said dryly.

Mark had been looking thoughtful for a few moments and the revelation they all knew was coming finally emerged. "You know," he said quietly, "With a dose like this, it would have be fatal within ten minutes. That narrows down our window of opportunity considerably."

"And the nurses weren't exactly forthcoming in letting us in," Steve said before his face suddenly fell. Of course, there was one other person he knew for certain had been in that room within that window. But it wasn't exactly going to be a welcome suggestion.

"Dr Harvey," he said in realisation.

The others looked at him and Steve grimaced. He hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Mark frowned, obviously not comfortable with that accusation, "What?"

"She was in the room," he said with an uneasy sigh, trying to ignore the piercing looks of the three doctors, "She was leaving as we got there...."

There was a short silence.

"Steve," Mark eventually said, "I think that's a little presumptuous even for me," He didn't like the idea that one of his staff was being accused of murder, even there was some evidence to suggest it. Especially one he had such a good feeling about.

"Hey, I'm not saying she did it," Steve reasoned, "I'm just saying she had the opportunity - was in the right place at the right time. We can't ignore that."

"Or wrong place at the wrong time," Jesse burst, a little angrily.

Steve was about to say something about not dismissing any possibilities when he recalled Jesse had once been accused of murdering a patient. Perhaps this cut a little too close to home.

"And what motive would she have?" Mark asked, calmer than Jesse but clearly not happy either.

Steve held up his hands, feeling a little ganged up on, "I don't plan on arresting her, okay? Just keeping an eye on her."

"You might want to keep an eye on Ms Laferty's companion," Mark said grimly, "Whoever is trying to cover their tracks here only has one more thing to clear up."

---


	3. Part Three

Jesse settled back in the doctor's lounge for his lunch and to lose himself in the soap operas for a while. Watching them always put things in perspective - whatever happened, the soaps showed just how overdramatically worse it could get.

He gingerly opened the bag Steve had just dropped off. Allegedly it contained his lunch, but he wasn't taking any chances. When the detective had come up and asked Jesse if he wanted him to pick up something from the canteen, Jesse had given him a worried look. Steve was admittedly alone in enjoying the hospital food. As a general rule the staff avoided it like the plague - perhaps afraid that they might actually get said disease if they ate from there. But Steve had been so insistent, saying how it would be no trouble and that he was going there anyway to get something for himself and McKenzie, that Jesse had found it impossible to dissuade him.

He took one sniff of the bag's contents however and decided that no force of this Earth would make him eat it. Tossing it into the bin - letting out a small, triumphant 'yes' as it landed perfectly - he crossed to his locker and pulled out a bag of doughnuts, before settling back into the sofa. Mark had warned him about eating junk food for lunch but it couldn't hurt just once. And as long as he scoffed them down quick, no one would ever know.

The door to the lounge swung open as if in response to that thought and Ellie walked in. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"You on a sugar high?" she said with a smile, "Now why does that not strike me as a good idea?"

Jesse shrugged, unable to think of a decent comeback. In truth, he had been a little quiet around her all day, and from the looks she had given him it was apparent that she had noticed. The idea that she was a murder suspect made him uncomfortable. Not because he believed it but because he didn't. He felt like he was being so two-faced if he was all chummy with her when he knew what his friends were suggesting she had done. Well, not all his friends. Mark and Amanda certainly weren't convinced. Steve was the only one who seemed to be seriously considering her as a suspect, and do so with a little too much conviction for Jesse's liking. Not that he wanted to disagree with his best friend....

Damn, he hated being conflicted. He just wasn't very good at resolving it.

"I'll let you into a guilty secret," Ellie said in a whisper, either not noticing or ignoring his awkward manner. She crossed to her own locker and pulled out an identical bag of doughnuts, holding them up like a trophy.

"I consider it an ER doctor's meal of choice," she explained, "The lunch of champions."

Despite himself, Jesse laughed.

"Oh, so you don't hate me then," Ellie said with slight teasing, "I was beginning to wonder, what with the cold shoulder you were giving me all day."

__

'Oh hell', Jesse thought. Now he was cornered.

"Well, I.....That is to say....I mean.....I....," he stammered before blurting out, "Personal problem."

Inwardly cringing at how much that made him sound like one of the soap characters he'd planned on watching and feeling superior to, he was relieved when she shrugged that off. "That's okay. Just as long as it's not me."

"No," Jesse said, knowing he was lying through his teeth and hoping it didn't show, "Of course not."

"So," said Ellie, pulling up a chair next to him, "What have you got?" She indicated the bag of doughnuts.

"Jelly ones," he said with more dignity than should really be applied to the choice of doughnuts, "I find you can't beat the classics."

"Amateur," Ellie muttered in mock disgust, "I have jelly, chocolate, ring, apple, vanilla, custard, blueberry and those one with the sprinkles."

"Sprinkles?" Jesse asked, suddenly eyeing her bag in wide eyed longing.

Ellie rolled her eyes, holding over the bag so he could take one. "You have a lot to learn my young apprentice."

--

"I'll never give into you, Dr Harvey!"

"Join me, Jesse! Join the darkside!"

"No, never!"

"Know this Jesse Travis, I am your father!"

"Well, I must admit that comes as kind of a shock. And it is a medical miracle."

Steve rounded the corner just in time to see Jesse and Ellie raise a couple inner cardboard tubes and start fighting with them, making humming noises. This went on for a couple of over-acted moments before Jesse swung a little too enthusiastically, hitting the desk and causing coffee to slosh over the notes Mark was working on.

Mark gave a Jesse a questioning look over the rim of his glasses.

"Sorry," the young doctor, replied rather sheepishly.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Ellie said, mimicking Jesse's look perfectly.

"No, I'm sorry," Jesse said with a small laugh, throwing a fake glare at Ellie.

She immediately cottoned on. "No, _I'm_ sorry!"

They raised their weapons to enter combat again but Mark was quick to snatch them away.

Steve laughed as he joined them.

"If you two don't behave yourself, Ellie won't be allowed round to play anymore," Mark joked, throwing the two offending objects in the bin, making sure that they were suitably destroyed to prevent the two doctors from retrieving them.

Ellie noted Steve's arrival with a small nod, and made excuses to leave. She'd obviously felt uneasy with the way he had questioned her about Mrs Laferty's death. He figured she knew he considered her a suspect and didn't like it. But hey, if she was guilty it didn't bother him if she hated the ground he walked on. And if she wasn't? Well he'd buy her chocolates or something...

"More problems with the kids?" he asked Mark.

He smiled, letting out a short laugh. "I found them eating bags of doughnuts," he explained, "Unfortunately I was too late to confiscate them. Combine a slow afternoon, a massive sugar high and two young at heart doctors and chaos ensues."

"So I saw," Steve said dryly, "And who would've taken Doc Harvey for a closet Star Wars fan?"

"Well," said Mark, a little more seriously, "I wouldn't take her for a murderer either."

"Dad-", Steve warned.

"I know, I know," Mark said, pre-empting what Steve was going to say, "She had the opportunity and so far we haven't identified anyone else who did, but she seemed genuinely upset about what happened to Mrs Laferty," he reasoned, "And if she had killed her surely she wouldn't have allowed you and Adam McKenzie to go in."

Okay, Steve had to admit that his dad had a point there, but he just shrugged, "There's no harm in watching her, is there?"

It wasn't like he hadn't been looking for other suspects. In fact, he'd been pretty thorough. The trouble was it could quite frankly have been anyone. The hospital wasn't exactly a high security area. And besides, having looked into Mrs Laferty and her companion Mr Hallman, he couldn't see who would want to kill them. Which is why he thought it must have some connection to the accident.

Mark sighed. "I know," he admitted, "Maybe I just don't want it to be her....I had such a good feeling about her and she's fitted in here so well."

Steve was about to reply when Jesse rejoined them and he tactfully dropped the subject. He knew that of them all, his young friend felt the most ill at ease with the possibility of Dr Harvey being a suspect. He spent the most time with her and seemed to be enjoying having someone of equal standing to him around. 

"Stupid coffee machine down here is broken," Jesse said with a small scowl, "I'm gonna go upstairs and get one. Any other takers?"

"I'll come with you," Steve said.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Mark said with a slight smile, "Decaf. A sugar high and a caffeine rush could be a potentially disastrous. And you are supposed to be setting an example to the residents and the med students."

Jesse grinned, "Yeah, point taken."

As he and Steve walked away he added, "Set an example to the med students? Like that would make any difference. On New Years Eve in my second year we tried to make cheese toasties on the defibrillator!"

Steve laughed. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Jesse had been a true frat boy in his youth. There was hardly any evidence of it in the sensitive, caring man he'd become.

"You know," Jesse said, glancing over at Steve, "I could have managed to get your coffee too."

It wasn't a way of trying to subtly tell Steve to leave, but he was wondering why he had chosen to join him.

Steve shrugged, "I sent McKenzie to ask after Mr Hallman - see what the damage is from that head injury. Thought I'd better go up and see how he's doing."

"Didn't you hear?" Jesse asked in mild surprise, "He came round earlier today. He's been real lucky. He'll probably be a bit woozy still but you should be able to get something out of him tomorrow."

Steve nodded, pleased and a little relieved. So far he had very little to go on. He had a vague assumption that Dr Harvey had something to do with Ms Laferty's death but that really didn't tie in with the accidents - unless she had something to do to them but he couldn't as yet see how.

"Talking about the case..." Jesse began, but Steve knew exactly where he was going with this.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on arresting your sparring partner for murder just yet. I'm missing that little thing we call evidence." He sighed, that was precisely what was bothering him about this whole thing and as yet he wasn't seeing any light at the end of the tunnel. 

Jesse didn't seem to pick up on this though. Once he got on a certain track it was always pretty hard to derail him.

"She just doesn't seem the type, that's all," he said in slight protest.

But Steve didn't want to get into an argument with him over this, so instead he glanced at his surrogate brother a smile spreading across his face.

"You know, you've been really defensive of her...," he said with a knowing look, making it clear what he was suggesting.

Jesse smiled in understanding but shook his head, "I don't like her like that. She's fun and really nice, but she's just a friend." He expected Steve to have some kind of smart comeback to that so he quickly added, "And besides, if she was a murderer, surely you'd be attracted to her?"

Steve's grin turned to a glare. Was it really his fault if some of the women he dated had occasionally tried to kill him or others?

"Hey," he protested defensively, "I've just had a little bad luck that's all."

"A little bad luck?" Jesse scoffed, "Come on, Steve! Forget L.A., you must be the unluckiest bachelor in the world! We're considering giving you a little plaque and everything."

Steve gave him a dry look and was about to allude to Jesse's problems in the area of dating when something caught his eye as they rounded a corner. Grabbing the arm of his young friend and yanking him back, he hushed Jesse before he could protest and pointed around the corner again.

Jesse frowned in confusion, and peered around to see what Steve had spotted.

About half way up the corridor Ellie was slipping quietly, seemingly unnoticed, into one of the rooms.

Steve was about to ask whose room that was, his suspicion already aroused, but the look on Jesse's face confirmed it.

He didn't think he'd ever seen him look so shocked, his blue eyes as wide as saucers.

"She said she was going to check on the woman in room four who'd had an asthma attack," he said quietly, betrayal and hurt in his voice, "She should be downstairs." 

"That's where the guy from the car accident is, right?" he asked, indicating the room, wanting to be sure.

Jesse just nodded, softly, not looking at Steve.

Up until now, Steve had felt nothing either way about whether Ellie was guilty or not, but now he really wished she wasn't. Poor Jesse looked devastated.

Well, at least he did for a moment, because when he looked back up, his face was set in furiously in stone.

"I can't believe I trusted her," he growled, "All the time I spent defending her and she....I was so damn stupid!"

And with that he stormed round the corner towards the room.

"Hey!" Steve said, hurriedly walking in front of him to stop him in his tracks, "What are you doing?"

Jesse pointed firmly towards the room, "I'm going to stop her murdering that guy!" He went to move but Steve put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Yeah, okay. But who's the cop here and can technically do the arrest?"

Jesse took a deep calming breath then nodded, conceding the point and indicating for Steve to go first. Steve squeezed his shoulder in support. He understood it was hard for Jesse and he wanted him to keep a level head.

"Stay behind me," Steve said, with a natural protectiveness as they moved quietly towards the door.

"Want me to go and get your partner?" Jesse asked.

Steve turned to look at him, mildly affronted, "Are you saying that I can't handle one girl?"

Jesse shrugged. No, he didn't want to say that because he didn't want to face the pay back he would almost certainly get, but then again he didn't like the idea of Steve being hurt by a desperate criminal either.

"Okay, go get him," Steve said with a weary sigh. He was pretty sure that he wasn't going to need the help but it was a way of getting Jesse out of there for a minute. He didn't want the young man to be around if things got ugly.

As Jesse disappeared towards the ward's nurses' station, Steve peered through the thankfully open blinds of the small door window. Ellie was standing with her back to the door, the room in semi-darkness, with just a side light on. It was illumination enough however to see a glint of something in her hand. And as she moved towards the sleeping patient, Steve realised it was syringe.

He immediately tore the door open and before Ellie had a chance to administer the injection, he tackled her from behind. The syringe clattered to the floor and she shrieked in alarm.

Then she did something Steve didn't expect.

She jabbed her elbow up and viciously connected with his jaw. He instinctively grabbed at it, crying out in pain. Meanwhile, Ellie freed herself and landed a sharp kick to his midsection. Steve staggered back, clattering into the table.

She looked about to hit him again when shock planted itself on her face.

"Steve?" she said, more than surprised.

There was no time for any explanation as Ellie's arms were grabbed and held behind her back. McKenzie, who'd come running when he'd heard the noise, slapped her wrists in handcuffs while Jesse went to check on Steve.

Ellie looked at them both, shaking her head, totally stunned. "What's going on?" she asked, bewildered, "What have I done?"

---

Mark sucked in a breath as he entered the path lab, the atmosphere in the room grabbing him by the scruff of the neck. He'd heard about what had gone on upstairs from Amanda who he'd met in the corridor. Having recovered the syringe Ellie had been found with, she was taking it up to do an immediate analysis on it herself and said she wouldn't be more than fifteen minutes before she had some kind of result.

He'd been shocked by what Amanda had told him, but he'd also been sorely disappointed. Ellie Harvey was such a good doctor. He couldn't understand what would motivate her to throw it all away.

The reactions of the others in the room was somewhat different. Steve was just about maintaining his usual police detachment, although the slightly bruised patch on his jaw could explain why he was glaring at Ellie so fiercely. Jesse meanwhile had an angry and cold look on his face, but Mark could just about see the hurt in his young charge's eyes, mixed with a essence of betrayal. Ellie herself looked angry, but also upset. And uncomfortable with her arms still cuffed behind her back.

"Are those really necessary?" he asked Steve quietly, feeling rather ill at ease with the whole thing.

"Believe me," he replied tersely, rubbing at his aching jaw, "They are."

"What exactly happened? Amanda gave me the headlines but..."

"We caught her sneaking into Mr Hallman's room," Steve said in a hard tone, the 'police detachment' definitely slipping, "She had a syringe in her hand and was about to inject him. Looks like she was trying to cover all her tracks."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ellie protested, angrily, looking to Mark for a support he was not sure whether he should give or not, "And I'd appreciate it if you told me what was going on."

"Murder," Jesse said bluntly and brutal, "The one you did commit and the one you just attempted."

"Murder?" Ellie asked in sheer bewilderment for a moment before the penny dropped. Then she looked at the all with horror. "Mrs Laferty," she said, clearly sickened, "You think I killed her."

She tried to force anger into her statement but Mark could tell she had been wounded by that. He felt immensely sorry for her and a little confused himself. Steve and Jesse had just caught her trying exactly what Steve thought she would and yet Mark still couldn't believe she had done it.

"That's why you were so off around me this morning," Ellie continued, looking at Jesse accusingly.

"Yeah, well, I always feel uncomfortable around those who've killed somebody in cold blood the day before," Jesse said caustically, with a venom Mark never would have thought him capable of.

"Jesse....", he warned quietly, seeing in her face how hurtful that had been. Thankfully the young doctor bit his tongue.

"Ellie," Mark said gently, "I'd like to hear your version of events."

She sighed, having gone over this five times already. No one had believed her then, what difference would a sixth time make?

"I was gonna check on the lady in room four, but decided to get a coffee first," she explained, "I knew the machine down here was broken so I went upstairs. On the way I asked the nurses how Mr Hallman was doing. They happened to mention he needed his IV antibiotics and since I they were really busy I offered to do them myself. Just before I get a chance to though, Rambo here attacked me and I was cuffed and brought down here to be accused of murder."

"Of course," Steve countered, "You could just as easily have realised we were watching you and as soon as you knew we were all together, took the first opportunity you could to finish the job."

"You can ask the nurse I spoke to," Ellie challenged, glaring at him, "She'll back me up."

"Oh don't worry," Steve said, "McKenzie's tracking her down right now. That's assuming she exists though."

Ellie sighed in sheer frustration, looking around them all. Steve, who clearly had his mind made up, Jesse, who was looking at her like he wished she'd just drop dead than and there. Even Mark, undoubtedly her greatest supporter, seemingly didn't know which way to turn and was consequently leaving her to defend herself. The realisation that they'd already tried and convicted her finally made her snap.

"Why?" she asked, sounding as if she were on the verge of tears, "Why in earth would I want to murder him? What possible motivation could I have had?"

"I don't know," Steve said with false jocularity and no sympathy, "You tell me."

"She didn't have a motivation," Amanda said entering the lab with some papers in her hands, "Because she didn't try to kill him."

That effectively brought an abrupt end Steve's interrogation.

Amanda handed the papers to a rather relieved Mark who perched his glasses on the end of his nose to read it.

"The syringe contained three hundred and twenty milligrams of gentamicin," he confirmed, "A standard antibiotic used to treat sepsis."

"And," Amanda added, "There was a bottle of cephalosphorin on the desk."

"Which is used in conjunction with gentamicin to treat infection following injury," Jesse said, quietly ashamed at what was becoming clear, not daring to look at Ellie.

Steve seemed equally reticent to look at the woman who he had all but convicted of murder a few moments ago, "So she was telling the truth?"

Amanda nodded.

Somehow, the atmosphere in the room got even worse at this.

"Steve," Mark said, awkwardly, "I don't think we do need the cuffs any more."

The detective nodded and Ellie stood up and turned her back to him so he could remove the cuffs. As soon as he had, she wordlessly stormed out of the room, slamming through the door so hard that it swung back and the handle knocked bits of plaster out of the wall.

Jesse moved to go after her but Mark stopped him, "I don't think that will help, Jess. Let me go."

He wanted to protest but knew Mark was right so simply nodded and sat back down to feel bad about himself. Amanda lay a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, but he just sighed deeply, somehow feeling even worse.

---

Mark watched through the window of the doctor's lounge for a few moments as Ellie angrily took the things from her locker and stuffed them into her bag. He sighed, as he entered the room, feeling bad on all their behalves for their accusation.

She glanced over her shoulder briefly to see who it was before returning to what she was doing. Mark noted that her eyes were red and burning with tears and that made him feel even more awful. That they'd made her angry he was prepared to deal with but to have made her upset was simply horrible.

"You're leaving," Mark stated, quietly, stopping a few feet behind her.

"Well, Dr Sloan," she said sharply, her formality a sting to him, "Those remarkable powers of deduction are showing themselves again, huh? Why don't I make things really simply for you - I quit."

"Quit?" Mark asked, a little surprised, not having expected her to go that far.

"Yeah," she said tersely, "And if I had known I was joining a group of people who were gonna accuse me of murder within a week of me starting, I never would have uprooted myself from everything I knew and moved across the other side of the country."

And with that Mark knew they had hit the crux of what had wounded her so much. It wasn't the accusation in itself, but the fact that he so called friends had been the ones to make it. Being so far from home must be a hard a frightening thing. The fact that she had thought she had made friends must have been a comfort to her and for them to then turn round and do what they had just done....Mark felt immensely sorry for how she must be feeling.

"In fact," she continued, oblivious of his sympathy, "In hindsight I'd consider it the worse mistake I've ever made. One I intend to rectify right now."

She roughly shoulder her bag, but Mark put a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from leaving past him. She didn't try to move round him and so he guessed that she secretly wanted to be stopped.

"As you said," he gently reasoned, "You've come all this way. Surely it's worth giving us a second chance. You can't begin to believe how sorry we all are over this."

"Really?" she said, raising her eyes skyward, avoiding his face. She was trying to keep up an angry facade, but her voice cracked slightly.

"This was all just a terrible, terrible misunderstanding," Mark said with remorse, "The truth is I like you. We all do. I've had a good feeling about you since we met and I really think you could fit in here."

Ellie looked conflicted at this. Part of her felt like she should be furiously storming out and on the first plane back to Chicago, but part of her had already settled here and liked it. And she liked them.

He sighed in dismay, "We certainly didn't want this to happen. You were just unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You're a wonderful doctor and we'd miss you if you left." He waited a few moments and when she didn't leave he took this as a good sign. "So," he said brightly, leading her to the sofa, "Why don't we sit down, I'll get some coffee and you call tell me some more about yourself..."

---

"I hope you both feel dreadful," Amanda said rather miserably, "Because I do and I didn't even do anything."

The despondent look on Jesse's face convinced her that he was beating himself up enough about what had happened without her rubbing it in, and even Steve, who'd been unusually quiet since Amanda's announcement, had an uncomfortable look about him.

They were headed upstairs to meet with McKenzie, taking the always painfully slow lift.

"Poor, Ellie," Jesse said with a quiet sigh, planting his hands in his pockets as he leant back against the wall, "It's bad enough to be accused of something you didn't do, but for your supposed friends to be the ones accusing you....I feel really lousy..."

"I need to go and buy some chocolates," Steve muttered to himself.

Amanda and Jesse both shot him an odd look, but another thought occurred to Amanda before they could question that.

"Steve," she said, realising something they'd so far forgotten to address, "Someone still murdered Mrs Laferty. Who else could have it have been?"

"I have absolutely no clue," Steve admitted wearily.

Jesse suddenly stood up straight again, looking concerned. "But who ever it is must be watching the place, right?" he asked, "I mean, they'd have to to know that Mrs Laferty's room was empty and that they'd have enough time to administer the drug and get out of there."

"And," Amanda added, seeing his reasoning, "They needed to have enough knowledge to know how to disconnect the alarm and administer the morphine. Not to mention being able to get it and know how much would be fatal."

Steve looked at them for a moment before cottoning on, "You're saying you still think a member of staff did it?"

"Well, they'd certainly have all the requisite knowledge," Amanda noted, "And they'd have an opportunity."

"I think we should err on the side of caution this time though," Jesse said, guiltily, "I've reached my 'accusing-innocent-staff-members-of murder' quota for this week."

"That's all very well, Jess," Steve pointed out, "But the killer is still out there and Mr Hallman is still a probable next target."

Then a horrible thought struck Amanda, one she couldn't believe they hadn't come up with before now.

"Yeah," she said, with a wide-eyed look, "And he's sitting upstairs, unguarded right now because we thought we had caught the killer."

Steve got her meaning much quicker this time.

"And if the real killer had been watching the place they might know that," he said grimly.

Thankfully at that moment the lift doors opened on the right floor and the three of them ran to Mr Hallman's room. As soon as they entered an all too familiar alarm was heard and Jesse and Amanda immediately set to work as Steve stood back and hoped his mistake hadn't cost this man his life.

--


	4. Part Four

Jesse straightened his lab coat and ran his fingers back through his typically messy hair, tucking the chart under his arm. He quickly glanced around. Mark and the others would want to see this.

He spotted them at the nurses station and headed straight over there, pleased and slightly relieved to see Ellie with them. She couldn't despise them all too much then. He noted however how she stuck to Amanda and Mark, barely acknowledging Steve. He hoped she wasn't like that with him.

Mark looked up as he approached and took the chart that Jesse handed to him, "Respiratory depression, hypoxia, tachycardia and non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema," he read, before looking up at the others, "All indications of a morphine overdose."

Jesse nodded, "We'll have to confirm it, but I'd say our killer has struck again."

"Well, at least he wasn't successful this time," Amanda pointed out.

Mark looked at Jesse again, "What did you put him on?"

"Naloxone," he turned to Steve, anticipating his next question, "I should do the trick, but it's gonna be at least a couple of days before you'll be able to get anything out of him."

"But he's he gonna be okay?"

"He should be," Jesse said with a pleased nod, "We caught it in time and it helped that we knew what we were dealing with. It was touch and go for a while though."

"What about the killer?" Mark asked Steve.

Steve sighed. This case was beginning to bug him. "No sign. And no one recalls seeing anyone hanging about either."

"So," Ellie said, speaking out quietly, "While you guys were down here playing cops and robbers with me, the real killer was upstairs doing this. I suddenly feel like a cheap diversion."

That thought clearly struck Mark. "You know," he said, thoughtful wagging his finger, "She could be right." The others looked at him and he felt compelled to explain further, "Think about it - whoever did this didn't try to frame her. They must have known that we would work out that she wasn't the killer. They just wanted us out of the way long enough to commit the second murder. Either we're dealing with someone very clever or very desperate."

"Or both," Amanda said, darkly.

"Not that that really helps us," Jesse said in rather defeated manner, "Since it could be some guy who walks in off the street and walks out afterwards."

Mark shook his head, "I don't think so, Jess. Remember this was rather a professional job. And who ever did it, must have known the workings of the hospital rather well."

"And we keep forgetting about the first death," Amanda noted, "Mr Truman. The guy who had the sedative in his system."

Steve nodded. He hadn't exactly forgotten it, but it had rather got pushed to the back of his mind, what with the more imminent matter of stopping Mr Hallman from dying. Two accidents on the same stretch of innocuous road. The only thing connecting the four victims were the accidents themselves. There must be something. Something else he was missing. A connection.

Then, as he played the events of the last few days back in his mind, a horrible, sickening realisation came to mind. He'd overlooked a suspect. One who not only had had opportunities in the hospital but was at the scene of both accidents.

Mark saw the look spread over his son's face and somehow read it, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"McKenzie?" he asked, wanting to make sure.

Steve nodded, "He had the perfect opportunity. He was at both accident sites and had constant access around this place."

"But wasn't he with you the morning Mrs Laferty died?" Amanda asked Jesse.

Jesse shook his head, "He got to me about thirty seconds before Steve came in."

"And McKenzie was there when I offered to give Mr Hallman his shots," Ellie added, "I was talking to one of the nurses and she mentioned she was going to give him the antibiotics when McKenzie intervened and said he had to talk to her. Which I was why I volunteered to do it instead."

Steve looked grim, "And while we were down here talking to you, he was supposedly upstairs interviewing the nurse who would support what Ellie was saying."

"He always knew exactly where we were and what was going on," Amanda said, her voice tinged slightly with anger, though Jesse guessed it was more at herself for missing the signs than at McKenzie.

"And he knew how to distract us," he then added, throwing a slightly guilty glance Ellie's way.

"Where is he now?" Mark asked with a sense of urgency as behind them the radio came to life with a burst of static and Jesse went to answer it.

Steve sighed, inwardly cursing his own stupidity as he pulled his cell phone, "I sent him back to the station. Told him I could handle things here."

"Er...Steve?" Jesse said, returning with a grim look on his face, "I found him. A light aircraft has gone down. It hit the side of a restaurant on one of the roads in the hills. McKenzie is apparently already on the scene. They want a couple of doctors out there. The paramedics are already there but they're sending a helicopter."

Mark could see the look of thunder on Steve's face and quickly took action. "You two," he said, pointing to Jesse and Ellie, "Get on that helicopter and get down there."

The two doctors nodded, heading off to collect their stuff and get quickly to the roof.

"And don't do anything about McKenzie," he called after them, "He's got no reason to run, so let's not give him one okay? We'll meet you there."

They both nodded, although Jesse was clearly somewhat reluctant.

"And we'd better get to your car," Mark said to Steve as they and Amanda headed for the parking lot.

---

Steve called in for exact directions to the crash site but he needn't have bothered. They could've just followed the rush of emergency vehicles heading that way. Or just driven towards the flames that were clearly visible from the areas surrounding the hills.

As Steve got out of the car, having shown his badge to the officer patrolling the cordon so he would allow them through, he was immediately assaulted by the heady smell of burning fuel.

It was easy to see what had happened. The plane had crash landed a few hundred metres from one end of the restaurant, the large trenches in the ground showing where it had skidded and only come to a stop when it had taken out one wall of the building. Being in that quaint wooden cabin style however, the rest of the building had pretty quickly gone up in flames too and the fireman were fighting a losing battle to save it. The plane itself was in two halves, the rear a crumple but the front relatively intact. The pilot could have been lucky.

From his six foot plus advantage, Steve had a pretty good view over what was going on, but couldn't see McKenzie anywhere. He spotted Jesse and Ellie assessing the casualties, but they both looked busy and harassed and so he decided not to bother them, instead heading for Captain Newman who he saw standing a few feet away.

"My God," said Amanda, shaking her head as she saw a body bag being zipped up and discretely taken away, "Why would he do this?"

"I don't know," Steve said, sharply, "But I'm gonna make him tell me."

"And if you're wrong?" Mark asked.

Steve half smiled, "Well I'll be two for two on false accusations and will be spending a lot of money of chocolates."

The remark of course left the other two perplexed and that made him smiled even more.

"Sir," he said, interrupting Newman as he was talking to a uniformed officer.

"Sloan," he said in mild surprise, "What are you doing down here?"

"Sir," he said with a deep sigh knowing this wasn't going to be easy or popular, "I have reason to believe that Detective McKenzie may be involved in the case I've been investigating."

Newman looked momentarily startled by that by pulled his composure back together rapidly.

"I suppose you had something to do with this," he said with a tone of inevitability, looking at Mark.

Steve shook his head, "This is my call, sir."

"Well, your call might be a mute point, Lieutenant," he said grimly, "McKenzie was one of the first officers on the scene. He went into the building to try and get some people out and he hasn't been seen since."

Amanda frowned, "What is he up to? If he did cause this why is he trying to be the hero?"

"The hero?" Mark asked, the phrase striking a cord. He turned to Steve, "Didn't you say that a lot of his family were rather celebrated emergency workers? That he felt a pressure to live up to that?"

"You don't think that's why he's doing it, do you?" said Steve, "Dad, that's crazy."

"Yes. And maybe McKenzie is."

There was really no arguing with that. Fortunately Steve caught sight of a man being lead away from the front of the plane. "The pilot," he indicated, crossing over to him and guessing the others would follow.

"Do you what happened?" he asked.

The EMT who was taking care of him looked slightly annoyed. The pilot had a large gash on his head and was clearly unsteady on his feet.

"Please," Mark said, calming the EMT's rant before it started, "We just need a moment."

Recognising Mark, she decided to give the detective some leeway.

Steve turned back to the pilot again. "What happened?" he asked again.

The pilot shook his head in a woozy manner, "I'm not sure. The engine failed, I think."

"Don't you have to do checks before you take off?" Amanda asked, wondering how something so drastic could have happened between here and the landing strip just half a mile away.

"Yeah, and I did," the pilot said defensively, "Everything was fine."

"Could anyone have tampered with your plane?" Mark asked.

"Tampered?" he asked, then frowned for a moment, "Well, there was this guy. He said he was a cop. Showed me his badge and everything. Didn't catch his name. He said that he was investigating drug trafficking in light aircraft and wanted to check the plane for any concealed stash."

"And you let him?" Steve asked.

The pilot looked at him with a screwed up expression, wondering why he was asking that, "Of course I did. He was a cop."

Behind them there was a sudden shouting commotion. Steve heard his name being called out and it only took him a moment to notice a guy in a doctor's windbreaker waving at him. Closer inspection revealed that it was Jesse and he was motioning for them to go over to him. Steve ran over there, Mark and Amanda hot on his heels.

He was going to ask the young doctor what he wanted when it became apparently clear. Ellie, a couple of EMT's and cops and were leading a group of people away from the burning building. McKenzie, looking a little worse for wear, was helping them out of the cellar.

"Thank God for that cop," Steve heard one woman say through her coughs as Ellie lead her to a safe distance, "He saved all our lives."

The fire officials then came over and ushered them all back, despite the protests of various emergency workers. The building wasn't going to hold much longer and they had to get to a safer distance.

Steve however resisted being manhandled away, instead looking at McKenzie and finally catching the young man's eye. It only took him a moment to read something in Steve's face that said he had figured it out. And then McKenzie looked sorry and turned and disappeared into the cellar once again.

The firemen immediately went nuts, two of them crossing to the cellar entrance and screaming at McKenzie to get back up there. Moments later he reappeared, leading an elderly couple, obviously badly suffering from smoke inhalation, up the stairs. Neither could walk very well and the two fireman had no choice but to help get them to safety. Unnoticed behind them, McKenzie's head suddenly dropped right out of view. The stairs had collapsed.

Ignoring Mark and Amanda's shouts of 'Steve, no!' he dodged round the two fireman and made his way to the cellar entrance. The heat coming from the burning building was incredible and he had to shield his eyes against it. Ignoring the painful tingling feeling in his skin he bent down towards the entrance.

"McKenzie!" he shouted, as loudly as he could before he got a lungful of smoke and had to cough.

"Detective Sloan?" a voice inquired before a face appeared to accompany it. Steve was shocked to see the fear in the younger man's eyes a look that drove all his anger away.

Somehow though the detective kept his voice all calm and business like. "Detective Sloan, there's still a woman down here. I think my arm is broke so I'm gonna need your help to get her out."

"Just get her over here and I'll get you both out," Steve said firmly.

McKenzie didn't answer, instead disappearing out of sight for a few moments and returning, half dragging a woman who seemed to be in a pretty bad way. McKenzie hoisted her up as best he could with his good arm. Even so, Steve had to lean a long way over to reach her. As he did so, he also grabbed at McKenzie with his other arm, gripping him by the leather strap of his gun holster.

But he was too off balanced and however much he wriggled back he couldn't pull them both up, "Hang on," he said, still gripping tight and trying not to be pulled in with them, "Help will be here in a minute."

McKenzie looked to the cellar roof as it creaked even more loudly however, more sections caving in. He glanced back up at Steve and shook his head.

"Just tell my dad I'm sorry for what I did."

Steve noticed far too late that McKenzie had been undoing the buckle on the holster. As he released it, Steve grabbed desperately at him, but couldn't catch him and he felt out of sight below. Steve easily pulled the now unconscious woman out of the basement. He quickly carried her towards the safety of the ambulances, seeing the relieved looks on the faces of his father and friends.

"Where's McKenzie?" Mark asked, as Steve lay the woman on a gurney at Jesse's request.

"He's still in the basement," Steve said, with a mixture of anger and worry, "We need to-"

His words were cut off however by a loud crashing sound as the floor of the restaurant fell into the basement.

---

"How's the jaw?"

"A little tender."

"Only a little? wanna give me another go?"

Steve half smiled, the first one he'd even attempted in quite some time. After a busy night running between the crash site, the station and the hospital - with a quick stop off at the store - his dad had finally pinned him down long enough to make him get checked out. He'd wondered at Mark's rather satisfied smile, but had understood it when he saw who was going to give him the check over.

Ellie.

He'd brought the chocolates he'd promised himself he would but had been trying to palm them off on his father to give them to her. Now it seemed he was cornered.

"That was pretty smart hit," he said, rubbing his jaw at the memory, "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"I worked in Chicago, remember?" she said, taking her pen light and flashing it across his eyes, "My mom insisted I took some self defence classes."

Steve let out a small laugh, "It was money well spent."

There was a small moment of silence as Ellie jotted something down on his chart. "You're fine," she said, signing it. "Not even slightly singed."

When she looked up again, Steve was holding out a box of chocolates.

"What's that?" she asked, hands on hips in a dismissive manner, "The 'sorry-I-thought-you-were-a-mass-murderer' selection?"

But she was smiling when she took them.

"I am sorry," he said, holding out his hand, "Friends?"

She shook it without hesitation, "Friends."

Steve nodded, somehow now knowing what his father saw in her that he'd missed.

"And I'm sorry about what happened to your partner," she added as he followed her out of the room, "Even after what he did."

"Yeah," Steve said softly, "So am I."

---

"So, it definitely was him," Mark said as he and Steve headed towards the doctors lounge for a well earned cup of coffee.

Steve nodded. It had been three days since the plane crash and the reports for the accidents cases were still sitting on his desk. He wasn't entirely sure what to do with them.

"Yeah, it was," he answered, "One of the nurses upstairs confirmed seeing him there the morning Mrs Laferty died and Mr Hallman recognised him as the cop who pulled them over saying there appeared to be something wrong with their car. Apparently he checked it over and fiddled about with some stuff. An examination of the car showed the brake line had been partially severed."

"So he must've killed Mrs Laferty and tried to kill Mr Hallman so they wouldn't identify him," Mark reasoned.

Steve nodded again, "I checked out the first death again too. It seems McKenzie had been prescribed diazepam for depression. And he did an unauthorised inspection in the same restaurant Mr Truman ate at the night he died."

Mark could see the connection there. McKenzie could have certainly managed to have drugged Truman's food.

Steve sighed, "I just don't get it, dad. I know he felt pressure to live up to his what his family achieved, but to go so far as to cause accidents for him to help at...."

"He wanted to be a hero," Mark shrugged, "And in some ways he was. He did save some lives back at that restaurant."

Steve knew that, and it was what made closing this case so difficult. He'd never felt any pressure to be in competition with his father and hence he couldn't really understand how McKenzie had felt, and yet part of him sympathised with the young man.

"Yeah, after he endangered them in the first place," he said quietly, "I know he did good, but someone has to be pretty disturbed to cause all that violence and mayhem."

They walk into the lounge, but came to a halt well before the coffee machine. Jesse and Ellie were sitting about a foot from the TV, engrossed in a particularly violent video game. Mark and Steve shared a look.

"No, shoot him in the head, not the leg!" Jesse half shrieked, smacking the buttons with some fervour, "He's still crawling towards us!'

"Jesse, he's only got one leg," Ellie reasoned, although her tone was equally high strung, "He's never gonna get us before I get my shotgun out."

"You were saying?" Mark said to Steve with a chuckle.

The two young doctors immediately dropped the control pads as they jumped to their feet, standing up to hide the TV. They both had the guiltiest looks on their faces.

"This isn't ours," Jesse said hurriedly.

"No," Ellie agreed.

"Someone brought it for us."

"Lent it to us."

"For a very short time."

"We're not enjoying this."

There was a screaming sound and some sad music from the TV and the turned back with a slight panic on their faces.

"Oh my God!" Jesse protested, indicating the screen, "You forgot to press pause! You killed us!"

"I'm sorry!" Ellie wined, very apologetically.

"It took us two and a half hours to get to that level," Jesse pointed out before he realised that Mark and Steve were still looking at them with a mixture of amusement and disbelief., 

"Er...Slow day....", he improvised as he and Ellie made a swift exit.

Steve smiled as Mark poured two cups of coffee, "Are you sure it's a good idea to let them work together. They're a bad influence on each other."

Mark smiled in return, "I did think of that. But they do keep me amused."

As he watched Jesse and Ellie chatting to Amanda at the desk, the smile widened even more. That good feeling he'd had about her had returned. It had taken a few days, but she had forgiven them for their accusations. Amanda, who had exonerated her, had become her new best friend and after a few awkward meetings, she had accepted Jesse's apologies. Even Steve, who she had clearly blamed for the whole thing had been forgiven.

Mark sighed in relief, glad for the growth in his little family. 

---

All was quiet in the LA precinct. Even the most dedicated cops rarely stayed until this time of night.

In his office however, Steve twiddled a pen in his fingers, occasionally tapping the end on the desk. The case files for the accident victims were sitting open in front of him, waiting to be finished off.

He just didn't know how to.

McKenzie had been a murderer, that was true and he should write that. But then what about all those lives he'd saved at the restaurant fire? And the fact that he'd sacrificed his own life to save him and that woman.

The unbiased detective part of him said he should report what he had found and close the case, concluding that McKenzie was a lunatic and a murderer. The other part of him though was the one that had listened to the guy's devastated father, a man who had taken comfort in the way his son had 'so bravely died'. Could he bring himself to shatter that? And the sorrow and remorse he had seen in the detective's eyes had been real enough. Hadn't McKenzie paid for what he did already without ruining the memory of him? He could quite easily leave the case as unsolved. No physical evidence had been found to link McKenzie to the crimes and the only people who really knew were his dad and the others. No one would ever have to know.

Both choice was right and both was wrong and he didn't know how to decide.

At that moment, Captain Newman walked in.

"Have you got those files on the accidents?" he asked Steve, "You said you'd have them on my desk by the end of the day."

Steve nodded, holding them up. "They're right here."

"What did you find out?" Newman asked quietly, "Was McKenzie involved?"

And at that Steve let his gut take over, not listening to his sensible head that was screaming out something entirely different. In his heart of hearts he somehow knew this was right.

"No sir," he said firmly, "I was wrong. Sometimes accidents do happen, right?"

Newman looked at him for a long moment and Steve guessed that he knew. But he didn't say a word. Just walked away with a nod.

Picking up his pen, Steve marked the cases closed without conclusion, feeling good and bad about himself at the same time. Looking at the night sky through his office window, the smouldering of what had been the restaurant still slightly visible, he just prayed that wherever McKenzie was he had gotten some kind of justice. And some kind of peace.


End file.
